Your Dinner Dilemmas, Solved

We all know that gut-wrenching feeling: Youre preparing the perfect meal when you realize youre missing an ingredient or misread the recipe. Luckily, there are easy fixes to common blunders, which means your mistake can be your little secret. Next time you mess-up in the kitchen, try one of these 11 solutions to turn your cooking catastrophe into a delicious dinner.

You used baking powder when the recipe called for baking soda (or vice versa).

These two leaveners, used to help baked goods rise, are not created equal. Scoop out as much of the mistakenly measured ingredient as possible and remedy it. Or, better yet, start the flour mix over to ensure the recipe will be properly leavened. Marlene Koch, “Magician in the Kitchen” and author of Eat More of What You Love, breaks down the science behind these two ingredients: “Baking soda has four times the leavening power of baking powder. If you use baking powder, instead of baking soda, your baked goods may not rise enough. If you use baking soda instead of baking powder, your baked goods will rise too much, and then deflate. They may also have a strong salty, and perhaps soapy taste.” Didn’t catch your mistake in time? Your bread or dessert will still be edible but probably won’t taste as good.

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